Man Bytes Corndogs

Finger food.  Here is an easy way to make delicious digits.  You could put it on a stick...

Everyone likes a little something extra in their fried food besides excess calories.

Note: Not Vegan or closely vegetarian, look here instead.

You need a few things:

Any kind of hot dogs.  The good ones with real skin casings are preferable.

Corn muffin mix.  You can prepare it from your favorite family recipe that has been passed down through generations or else rummage through the pantry.  I found some all-in-one pancake mix and some coarse cornmeal that I use to dust pizza bottoms.

A frying instrument.  I use a cast iron pan(it's some kind of heavy thick black steel or iron alloy) and canola oil - use an oil with a high temperature resistance or smoking point for good frying.

CAUTION: Know how to use knives safely and frying with hot oil can be dangerous.  Baking this would not yield the greasy goodness.

Time to get your sharpest scalpel or knife to make some incisions.

Prep the hot dogs by cutting or breaking them in half.

Find the flatter portion of the end of the hot dog.

Slice across the top to define the cuticle of the nail.

Continue to score a light cut around to define the fingernail.

On the bottom side, place your finger next to the hot dog for reference.

Where your finger bends, score a light incision in the hot dog to define the crease of the finger joints.

When it cooks, the joints will swell up a bit and will look like the finger joints.

I just cut some slits into the cut end of the hot dog to splay it out a bit.  It will help the hot dog grab on to the batter better.

The easiest thing for the corndog batter is to use a box of corn muffin mix.

I only had pancake mix and some coarse cornmeal in the pantry.

Mix the batter in a cup since you need a tall container to dip the corndog into.

I used about 1/4 cup pancake mix and 1/4 cup cornmeal.

Add water to make a stiff batter.

You might want to dry off the hot dogs with a paper towel.  It helps to adhere the batter.

When ready to fry, dip the cut end in and roll around a blob of batter.

Get the cauldron of cooking oil to about 350 degrees F.

Get a blob of corn batter on the end of the hot dog.

Roll gently into that deep night...

Depending of the level of oil in your wessel, you may need to flip over the corndog to complete cooking on the other side.

Move around in the pan with a wooden spoon or tongs.  You may be tempted to swirl the oil by shaking the pan, but don't as that is a recipe for disaster.

When all sides are a golden brown and the hot dogs have a nice look to it, remove the food.

Drain and tap off excess oil and set aside on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb any further grease.

The oil is still hot, grab a bag of frozen french fries or onion rings to throw in there...

Enjoy!